The Accidental Movie Star (24 page)

Ashley looked away. “How do you stand Hollywood? How can you work with these people again?”

“Petra has her own agenda, but she’s not malicious.” His expression was hard. “I’m hiring my own driver and buying a car.”

“And the pills?”

“I don’t know who drugged my drink, but I know it wasn’t you.”

“It wasn’t.”

Looking into her eyes with a sincere expression, Caz said, “I know. I’m sorry I doubted you before.” He kissed her, a brief, quick kiss.

People filtered into the theater, many stopping to offer comments and congratulations to Caz. The noise level grew until the director moved to the floor in front of the screen. He leaned into the rail and spoke into a microphone. “Thank you all for coming. This project has been a labor of love for the cast and crew, without whom we wouldn’t be here tonight. So without further adieu, enjoy the film.”

The lights darkened and Ashley felt her lips smile. She squeezed Caz’s hand.

The movie came on.

OMG.

Halfway through the movie, Ashley dropped Caz’s hand and wrapped her arms around herself. The director had used all of her scenes, but he replayed the steamy bed scene the most. Throughout the film, images of her in bed with Caz flashed through the hero’s mind. The death scene repeated also, but the bed scene definitely made the most appearances.

Ashley rubbed a hand over her face, half covering her eyes.

Leaving the auditorium, in between chats with people stopping them, Caz said, “Why are you so upset?”

Ashley turned her face to him and whispered, “He shot when I didn’t even know he was rolling.”

“Well, that’s not a bad way to get a natural take.”

“And the bed. We’re rolling around on that bed. A really long time. He put that in the film.” She didn’t think her face could flush any deeper.

“You looked hot. You’re beautiful, Ashley.”

“My dad is in the audience.”
Her voice raised on the last word.

Caz sucked in a breath. “Ah, maybe too hot then.”

Ashley turned her face into his arm with a groan. “Yes, definitely too hot.”

His hand rubbed her back. “It was a good film, though, right? I don’t always get to say that.”

She didn’t answer and didn’t explain the part that shocked her the most. The depth of the emotions she’d just seen on screen didn’t come from any hidden talent. She wasn’t an actor. As much as she lied to herself, she had just seen her feelings for him, right there, in high definition. Ashley Herrington was in love with Caspian Thaymore.

In somewhat of a daze, she exited the theater along the side of the auditorium. The red carpet was still out, but the roped-off fan area had cleared.

Powder appeared and hugged Ashley. “You were so good.”

Ashley got out of her own head. “Thanks. Your makeup was stunning. I admit I didn’t fully appreciate your art until your work was blown up on screen.”

Powder laughed. “Yep, there’s nothing better than seventy feet of screen to highlight your mistakes.”

Petra, Cutter, and the wave of their clashing colognes joined them. Olive, arms swinging, arrived soon after. Olive wore an all-black gown and low heels and carried a large leather tote.

Cutter did a small jig and the tassels on his shoes shook. “He saw it. He loved it.”

“Harlon?”

Cutter’s voice took on a singsong tone and his face held a glow. “Harlon Ramonannini saw my revision and loved it.”

“Cool.”

Petra did one of her poses from the movie. “My wardrobe was fantastic too. Did you see how great I looked? In every scene, it was amazing.”

Olive nodded. “Amazing.”

“It was so intense,” Petra said. “I was so keyed up last night I could barely sleep. I really don’t know how I kept from looking hideous tonight. I had to put on so much eye makeup because of the shadows.”

Caz pulled Ashley in front of him and draped his arms around her. She leaned against him.

Cutter eyed their embrace with surprise. “Ashley, I thought you were dating Garrett.”

“I never went out with Garrett.”

“That’s what I thought, but Olive was so insistent.” Cutter put his hands on his hips and pouted at Olive. “Guess your source isn’t as good as you thought.”

Petra said, “Olive is a great assistant, but her scoop is always off. Mine, however, is great. I mean, when I see something I get the story right. Like with Lorene, I knew she was drinking, and I told everyone how she is on a set. But Olive was like ‘Poor Lorene must have been drugged.’ Please. I know Lorene, I’ve worked with her, so I know. I was all like ‘I don’t think so’ and Olive was like
no really
. You remember that, Olive, right? How wrong you were and how I was right?”

Olive shifted her eyes from left to right then looked up. “I don’t know who said that, but you’re right, she was drinking.”

“I know,” Petra said. “You should listen to me. Lorene and I are frenemies. I was telling
Tween In
, I’m in the know.”

Caz’s arms tensed against Ashley. “What a stupid misunderstanding,” he whispered in her ear.

Ashley turned her gaze up to his, and his ocean eyes pleaded with her. She put her hand over his and squeezed.

Over Caz’s shoulder, a group of well-dressed executives stood with Dad dead center in their midst, wearing a dark frown. Ashley gulped as his gaze met hers and he strode over.

She ducked out from under Caz’s embrace, stepping away.

Dad took her arm and pulled her another step back. He wore a polite smile but his icy eyes held fury. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to my daughter.”

Olive gasped. “Ashley is your daughter?” She looked at Ashley. “Why didn’t you tell us your dad was Mr. Herrington?” Her gaze swung back to Ashley’s dad. “I was just telling Ashley how great she was.”

“Hurry back, Ashley,” Petra said. “So we can catch up. I have some notes I can give you on your performance. I’ve been doing this a long time and can help you out.”

Cutter said, “We’ve got to get together again soon.”

Dad barely gave them a nod. He cupped her elbow in an unshakable grip and walked toward the side of the building. His low voice came out slow and angry. “What the hell were you doing all summer?”

Caz followed them, his arms across his chest. Dad barely spared him a glance. “You need to get back to your promoting.”

Caz said, “I can give Ashley a lift home. We can talk about this there.”

Dad’s eyebrows rose, and his voice thinned. “Stay out of it.”

Ashley stepped between them, trying to calm things down. “I just helped out when Lorene didn’t show up. I wore a wig. You can’t even really tell it was me.” Her voice dwindled on the last words. She didn’t believe them so it was hard to sell them.

“Really?” Dad said. “You think so? You think the kids in your high school won’t find out? You think a guy is going to treat you with respect, after seeing that? That bed scene?”

Caz stepped close. “She was acting. We hadn’t been dating that long when we shot that.”

Ashley widened her eyes and shook her head at Caz. Now was not the time to go there.

“Dating?” Dad turned to Ashley. “
Are you kidding me? He’s an actor
. He’s not even in school. What are you thinking?”

Caz’s eyes glittered under his frown. “Didn’t you know?””

Dad looked confused and annoyed. “This is because I don’t live with you, isn’t it? Boys wouldn’t try that crap if I spent more time home with you and your mom.”

Ashley’s eyes widened, and she was knocked so far off her foundation, she didn’t know what to say.

The director joined them, so Dad redirected his anger, and whatever else he was about to say was replaced with, “What the hell, Russ?”

The director held up his hands. “Now, I know, I know, we ended up using a lot of her work in the finished film. But you’ve got admit the shots look great.”

“My daughter’s going to be an architect. Not an actress. An architect. I arranged for her to work with the set designers and said she could help with other tasks as needed. As needed, Russ, I didn’t say shit about her being on film.” Dad jabbed a hand toward the movie poster.

“Really?” Ashley’s shoulders relaxed. That made so much more sense in regards to Dad going on and on about this helping with her college applications. He’d arranged for her to work with the architect. That was thoughtful. “I would have loved to work with the architect.”

That seemed to make Dad angrier. “Then why didn’t you tell me you weren’t?”

Ashley shrugged. She didn’t know she was supposed to be working with an architect, so why would she tell Dad she wasn’t? “I didn’t see you that much.”

Dad pressed his lips together, then said, “I started dating an actress, Bevan, in July, and I know how you feel about the stupidity of dating actors, so maybe I stayed away a bit too much.”

The director said, “Where is Bevan tonight?”

Dad glared.

The director held up a hand. “There is the media coverage. She’d like it. Also, this is a great story for Ashley. How Ashley stepped up to help out and—”

Dad’s lips all but disappeared and his jaw tensed. He jabbed a finger in a different direction, and the director followed. As they walked, Dad said, “You’re not mentioning Ashley to the press.”

“They’re here now,” the director said. “The cameras are on us now.”

“Not one word.”

Ashley could no longer overhear them, but the head shaking and body stance looked adversarial.

The ground trembled.

Chapter 27

Ashley didn’t react other than to stay still. She felt like a true Californian in that moment. Earthquake? Who worries about earthquakes?

Movie posters swayed on the wall of the theater, and she lost her insouciance.

“Earthquake!” someone shouted. Several people screamed. Cutter’s shriek pierced the night. Ashley turned toward him and saw the large temporary platform sway. Weird. Only a few hours ago, Caz had been standing on top giving an interview. One of its large corner metal poles bent as if it were made of something other than steel.

Caz grabbed her and yanked her away from the falling structure.

The horrible sound of crashing metal and the sharp crack of splintering wood filled the air. Screams got louder. She tried to lift her head, but could only see Caz on top of her.

He said, “Are you okay?”

Wriggling, she eased from beneath his weight and pulled herself into a seated position with her back against the exterior brick wall of the auditorium. On the other side of Caz, half the fallen platform squatted like a crumpled metal spider, and half balanced against the side of the auditorium, trapping them in a debris cocoon. Pieces of the metal structure had ripped through banners advertising the premiere, and other pieces broke off, clanging through the night. Caz had thrown her clear just as the structure fell. She quickly looked him over, noting dust in his hair and tears on the sleeves of his jacket.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her heart pounding.

“Just a normal evening for me.” Caz struggled to sit up beside her. The space was a tighter fit for him. The outer framework formed a small haven amid the debris.

He had the British ability to underplay situations when he wanted to use it. Ashley put a hand over her heart to feel its beat ease and put a tense hand on his arm. Caz pulled her close and she curled onto his lap.

He rubbed a hand across her back. “We can crawl out through there.”

Her gaze followed his fingers. There was a significant gap between the platform and the ground.

Yells and sirens sounded, adding their noise as a backdrop to the slide of additional debris and indistinguishable yells from the event-goers. Ashley turned toward the rubble as a terrible thought hit her, and she screamed, “Dad!” She tried to rise.

Caz’s hand pulled her back down. “Don’t scream. There’s dust. Your dad wasn’t near us. He’s okay.” He brushed a hand over her arm and pointed toward the crawl space. “Let’s go through.”

“We can’t. The architect told me about that.” Ashley tried to keep the panic out of her voice. “You can’t build permanent things with that metal here in California because it won’t withstand earthquakes. And there could be aftershocks.”

Caz looked ready to argue, but her tense grip and whatever was in her eyes made him agree.

There wasn’t room in their nook for her to stand. The sensation of being trapped and the creaking of the metal around her made her heart pound. “It’s going to fall again. We’re stuck. I can’t see my dad.” She peered through the darkness. “Dad!” she screamed again.

Caz pulled a cell phone from his jacket. “Try him.”

Ashley tapped in his number with shaking fingers. A busy signal beeped on the other end. She hit the end key and typed again. This time she pinged a text and sent an email.

Beep
.

The response was immediate. Dad’s response read, “Hold tight. Fire crew on it. All okay here.”

She slumped against Caz. His hand covered hers and he read the text over her shoulder. She buried her face against his neck, trying to stop trembling.

“When you’re an architect you could construct us a better platform.”

Her arms tightened on his shoulders. “Okay.”

Crash
. The small tunnel he’d suggested they crawl through collapsed completely, stirring up more dirt and debris. They lowered their faces away from the projectiles and pluming dust.

His arms tightened around her. “Good call.”

“I hope everyone’s okay.”

“Me too.” Caz stroked her hair. He sent a few texts out and shared the replies with her. “Garrett’s gone to the pub. He’ll hold us a seat.”

Ashley melted deeper into him and they clung together a long time, not talking until her jumbled thoughts turned to their fight; not that any of it mattered now, but the thoughts ate at her. She looked into his eyes. “May I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“How can you be so friendly with people you know used you or tried to, like some of these people from the studio? But when it was Garrett and me, you wrote us off.”

His hand stilled against her face. “I don’t give a toss about the others.”

Ashley toyed with his hand, her fingers trembling.